


His Refrain

by Pchan2017



Series: The MayWeather Element. [5]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, POV Male Character, Papyrus isn't all there it seems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 07:50:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11801670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pchan2017/pseuds/Pchan2017
Summary: Another work in the Mayweather Experiment. This time, we visit the Swapfell brothers. A little hint into what made them the way they are. Mild violence, but eh that is to be expected with these two. Papyrus is a sad, disturbed puppy.





	His Refrain

**Author's Note:**

> This first bit will be written from Papyrus' POV but it shifts later on, it is marked when the POV changes.

Acrid. Thick and pungent, the stench is almost not worth the effort, and yet.. it is soothing. I am.. tired. Very tired. Everyday is the same thing over again. Appeasing my brother,ensuring his mental state is kept high and not allowing him to fall. How long now? How long have I played this game of his? At first it was, rather interesting, a change of pace. I was so proud of him. He never was truly very strong, something.. I don't know, something went wrong, he just stayed so small. It was as if fate had decided to throw another shit card into the hat, but we managed. My little Sans, how long ago was it, that I held your tiny bones in my arms as you gave that first wailing cry? Perhaps I should have been merciful then, it would not have taken much at all honestly.. I could have held that delicate skull between my hands and crushed it, snuffing out your life before it could really begin. But I was weak, I am always so weak. 

It is because of my selfishness, you survived. I coddled you, little one.. last of our breed. I wish I could tell you were all our kin have gone, but I suspect no one will really ever know.. just another question left unanswered in this hell hole we call home. I still do not understand our Queen's methods, handing you over to me when your mother dusted away right after your birth.. did she think I , a kid, could really take care of you? What right did she have to even place such a burden on my shoulders anyway? We were in the same boat. I was alone, lost, drifting in a sea of apathy.. it must have been some sick joke for her, watch the last two fall down.

Oh but I proved her wrong, I proved them all wrong. You were my treasure. Once we escaped the palace, it was a not so simple matter of ensuring your well being. I had no idea how to take care of a baby bones! But.. I adapted, maybe that is where things went wrong.. maybe I didn't feed you enough, maybe I let you get too cold, who knows. All I know is, it is my fault you stayed so damn small.. and weak. I still remember your fist words, you looked up to me with those large.. far too innocent eyes and said "Papy!" It warmed my soul, and I knew from then on out, we were doomed.

I had to squash that innocence.. and I did. As you grew, I put you through hell, making you train until you could not stand.. and then I carried you home, but did I ever share any praise with you? No, I couldn't. I had coddled you for too long. I should have shown mercy. I should have known we would both starve, out casts on the fringes of society. But we got by, we always got by. As you grew, my pride was mixed with regret. You were still too innocent, your smile too pure. And so I pushed you. I pushed and pushed until you finally fought back.. heh.. I'll never forget that day. You were just at the cusp of adulthood, when you finally had enough of my shit.

I never thought you could hit that hard, especially not hard enough to knock the tooth right out of my skull.. I still have the hairline cracks along my jaw from that fight. Flat on my back, the taste of marrow as I turned and spit a wad of the gunk from my mouth.. you surprised me. You took the fight right out of me that day. You were finally strong enough to hold your own.. my little Sans. It did not happen over night, but the game slowly began to form. My determination was a joke at that point, but your iron will was growing stronger. You took the lead, finding food, shelter, eventually even jobs for us.. we eventually had enough scrapped up to get a house.. it was a run down piece of crap, but it was hours. And that is when the game was set in stone.

"My house, my rules! You will obey like the dog you are!" I knew you hated me, you had to. I had done wrong by you so often, that I forced all the sweetness out of you, turning your soul hard against the world. I wish I could say it was because I had to, because our cursed like was so filled with ash and blood that weaklings like us, were lucky to have made it this far.. but who am I kidding? I wanted you to hate me. And so I bucked against your rules, I broke each one every chance I got. I was defiant, crude, just an all around mess. But through it all, you somehow stayed true to yourself. Each transgression was met with your oppressing aura, your anger... it was addicting, and at first I only sought out the pain of your wrath to appease my own guild and self loathing.

But that can only last for so long. I can not place a finger upon it, when something changed.. but I found myself craving your ire. It was twisted. it was sick, and yet I wanted it. You eventually gave up on just smacking me when I stood firm against you.. towering over you, heh.. I knew my height always bugged you. You had taken up training with that wretch, Alphys. Your stats were still pretty low, but you gained something new.. agility. You also gained cunning. I should have known I could only push you so far now, I never expected the lash however. You caught me by surprise, and once again.. I found myself flat on my back, spine aching from the fall.. oh stars above, it was what I had been asking for. 

You grew creative, as well as cruel.. and I felt, yes, I had finally done something right. Your innocence was lost, you were no longer my little Sans. You had grown, adapted, changed.. you were.. My Lord. Who taught you? Who changed you? Who did what I could not? I should hate them, treasure them, kill them.. praise them.. Another cloud of smoke, it helps sooth away the memories that haunt me. I could sense it in the air, you had finally come into your own strength. It was, different. Your magic honed to do what your body could not. Monsters no longer looked down at you with a sneer and blood lust in their eyes, no.. it was replaced with fear. They knew they were inadequate compared to you, and it fed into your already inflated ego.

The day you were given your armor, your place among the guard, that was the day I received my collar. With your first promotion, came my replacement tooth.. the pain was indescribable as you fused gold and bone together, but you had commanded not a sound.. by then I knew my place. I was silent. Each rise in power, each new position in the guard came with a new price for me. It was.. proper, I suspect. I had kept you under my thumb throughout our childhood, you now keep me under your boot... When you had climbed as far as you could go, second only to Alphys, that was the day you placed the final nail in the coffin. You told me.. "..Worthless Mutt, don't you know that your Lord loves you?" Why?! Why did you say that?! I had wanted your hate.. not affection! I did so many things wrong, changed you.. changed.. us. 

Why did you bring me back from the verge of oblivion? I would have been happy to be dust, to be forgotten.. to give you freedom.. but no, you used your own magic to bring me  
back.. if only you had not arrived when you did, I would have been far too gone for you to waste your time on. It had been easy, find a group of monsters, antagonize a fight I couldn't win.. and allow it to happen. I was broken, I was fading.. and then you arrived.

My Lord, my demon, my savior, my captor. I am forever bound by your side, you told me such a horrible thing.. and in return.. I was cursed. I loved you, I always have.. and now, I have to ensure you stay strong. Grow, my Lord. Grow stronger, eventually you shall reach what you most desire. Power, the crown, the world beyond our own. And I shall be by your side. I am your mutt, your sword against the world. The others thing I am broken, a shell of a monster.. I hear them, I hear what they say about you.. I see the effect it has upon you, though you try to hide it. You hate them, and I hate them.. when you rest, I hunt. The Underground has become our playground. No one can speak ill of you, my Lord.

\--End of Papyrus' POV--

He pushed away from the tree he had been leaning about while lost in his own thoughts, the ash of his cigarette sprinkled over his grimy sweater while the dust at his boots would crumble away, caked in snow as he made his way deeper into the woods. A smile which did not reach his eyes, found its way to his features. It was here, in the still of the night, with his work done for now.. that Papyrus could let the weight of the world come crashing down. The snow was cold and wet the fabric of his jeans when he fell to his knees, he bowed against the bitter winds. Tears were things he did not shed, those were days long passed. No, his remorse came in the low rumble of his voice. The dirge began as it always did, retelling his mistakes, his failures as the song would be caught upon the wind. His soul hummed so intensely that it threatened to block the sound of his own voice from him.. but on he sang. 

His head soon rose, as the first twinkle of light glimmered off the gems and minerals in the cavernous wall overhead. The fake sky, another reminder of how cruel humanity had been in the stories now all but forgotten. His song rose higher now, cursing the creatures who had enslaved their lives to the Underground, humans.. selfish, almost as selfish as he was. It turned bitter, laced with venom and the oppressors of those lyrics turned to the monsters who had held them down for so long.. Pride stirred within his soul as the tune shifted, less melancholy and more reverent as he shifted the music to that of praise.. his 'brother', the one soul he gave a damn about. 

As the music finally left him, the words dying down, finally a whisper of his adoration for his Lord.. he did not hear the crunch of snow, nor the disdainful tsk. His hands, balled into fists, bore into his knees.. his shoulders shook, he wanted to weep.. wanted to let the dam break, allow himself a chance to finally release all that he held back. But the tears never came. A soft wail was all he could manage. By the time he finally settled, his attention snapped away from his own despair and quickly turned to shame. He could sense that aura anywhere. He did not have to turn about to know those sharp, violet eyes were boring into his back.

"...Mutt, must you? Your Lord demands rest, and yet here I am. Do you know how distasteful it is to wake up in the dead of night, without you by my side? Thoughtless cur. Heel!" 

A snap of leather upon bone. He would have to treat his Lord's hand later, no mark could be allowed to linger upon perfection. Turning about at last, head low.. he was upon hand and knee as he made his way over to the small yet imposing figure. Once again he had messed up. He normally would not waste so much time, not permit his Lord to note his absence and he would return in time to curl up beside perfection. Imperfect perfection.

The first strike had jarred him, he should have been ready for it.. he had misbehaved after all, displeased his Lord. Another three would fall upon him, the triangle of leather upon the length of wood which was so firmly grasped in that iron hold had left no true damage to his health. It was always the same. A stir within his soul, shame at what he was, and what he was doing.. the pride for his Lord, the regret that he had allowed Sans to become this. It was always the same.

"Papyrus.." He looked up tentatively, it was rare for Sans to use his true name. He was surprised by what he discovered in the limited light of the forest surrounding them.. the soft glow of the faux stars over head. Sans was.. smiling? Genuine, true.. a smile he had not seen in ages. "Your voice.. you should sing for me, only for me. No more of this. You are not permitted to wander off in the night again. Come now, we are going home.. and you can think on your misdeeds and how to appease your master." The snow would crunch once more as Sans turned away.. he snapped his fingers and Papyrus was on his feet, keeping pace by staying three steps behind him.

"Yes, My Lord."

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, they are not related :P Hope you enjoyed this part of the series, more to come soon...ish.


End file.
